Read Online Winter Hawk Star by Sigmund Brouwer - Free Book Online

specifically.”
    This time, I expected her to blink. Which she did.
    â€œIf you want to lie to people,” I said, “you should learn to be a better actress. You give yourself away by blinking. You can’t look me in the eyes when you lie.”
    â€œYou are rude. Please leave.”
    â€œI might be rude. But I do know Ben is in danger. In fact I know you’re supposed to keep your mouth shut about something or he’ll get seriously hurt.”
    Her mouth dropped. “You can’t know that,” she managed to say in a whisper.
    â€œI overheard Earl Chadley threatening you. I know plenty more too. After Joey told meabout Nathan and Drew and Jamie, I called each of their mothers. Not only did I find out that all of the boys have been diagnosed with ADD, but I also found out everyone in our group suffers from it. Almost like you went out and collected kids who have ADD.”
    That, of course, explained why they were so crazy and wild during our visits here. If it hadn’t been for the street hockey to tire them out, Riley and I would have gone equally crazy trying to work with them.
    â€œI found out something else,” I said. “Joey, Jamie, Nathan and Drew had been making great progress. Every one of their mothers was sad to see them out of the program because the boys were so much quieter at home after spending time at Youth Works.”
    I took a breath. “What I don’t know is the big secret you’re hiding. And I want to know it. Now.”
    â€œDrop it, Tyler,” she said. Her face was white now. She wasn’t blinking. “Drop the questions. Drop your volunteer time here. Drop everything and pretend you nevercalled those mothers. Then go back to hockey and forget you ever heard of Youth Works.”
    â€œWhy?” I said. “Give me one good reason why.”
    â€œBecause you look much nicer in a hockey uniform than you would in a coffin.”
    â€œMr. Cranky Pants,” Riley said to me as we walked away from the Youth Works building toward my Jeep. “What’s the matter? Did Sam turn you down for the dance?”
    Two hours had passed since my conversation with Samantha. Riley and I were both dripping sweat after a long run with the kids. I carried my gym bag in one hand, my Jeep keys in the other.
    â€œI didn’t ask her,” I said.
    â€œYou spent enough time in her office when we got here,” he said. “How could you not have asked her?”
    Riley carried his own gym bag over his shoulders.
    â€œYou want to hear something crazy?” I asked.
    We were almost at the Jeep.
    â€œSure.”
    I waited until we were both inside. Riley threw his gym bag on the floor at his feet. I put the key in the ignition. We both pulled our seat belts on.
    I didn’t start driving though. Instead I told Riley about the weird things I had discovered with my phone calls. An entire group of kids with ADD. Four kids with seizures in four months. The mothers unhappy that the kids weren’t allowed to come back to Youth Works.
    â€œWell, no kidding,” Riley said with his usual smart-aleck grin. “Sometimes ADD kids use medication. So if your kid came home happy and tired and quiet, wouldn’t you want him to stay in the program?”
    Program.
    That word kept going through my mind as Riley dug through the gym bag for his water bottle. He found it and offered it to me.
    â€œKool-Aid?” he asked. “I took some more from their snack tray while they weren’t looking.”
    â€œSure,” I said. I gulped down some KoolAid and handed it back to him.
    Program. Drugs.
    I remembered the kidnapping van. It had been stolen from a pharmaceutical company. I remembered how it bugged me that the van had clean sides but a dirty back end.
    Program. Drugs. Pharmaceutical company. What could it mean?
    Riley almost had the water bottle to his mouth when I grabbed it from his hands.
    â€œHey! I’m willing to